Monday, February 27, 2012

Crystals

What are crystals?

Crystals are natural solids made from minerals.Each type of crystal has a unique and precise atomic structure.They are commonly identified by their color and degree of hardness by using Mohs Scale of Mineral Hardness.

Some crystals like Quartz come from the center of the earth’s fiery gases and molten minerals. Intensely heated, they are catapulted to the surface by the planet’s tectonic plate movements. As the fiery gases break through the Earth’s crust and meet solid rock, they cool and solidify. This process may take eons or may be fast and furious.

Other crystals, however, are not formed under such intense pressure. There are those that develop in deep underground chambers, growing in layers, or dripping into existence. Nonetheless, whatever their origins and the eventual shape and sizes they transform into, their crystalline properties can absorb, conserve, focus, and emit energy on the electromagnetic waveband.

The wondrous powers of crystals: fact or myth?

The growing interest in crystals – for their captivating colors, shapes and forms, including their holistic healing effects – is not at all some leftover influence of the New Age Movement of the 1980s.

Actually, medicine men and shamen of ancient civilizations have been using crystals and gemstones as sacred tools for healing and protection. Their recorded use dates back thousands of years, from the annals of the Chinese traditional medicine to the Ayuverdic texts of India.

The Bible also contains hundreds of references to crystals and their powers and connections. The Greek philosopher Theophrastus (372 - 287 BC), a student and collaborator of Aristotle (384 – 322 BC), wrote the book Peri Lithon (On Stones), which presented a taxonomy of known gems, their origins, physical properties, and healing and magical powers. It is regarded as the first systematic mineralogy book in the world. To date, it serves as a basis of modern scientific classification of gemstones.

Moreover, since ancient times, various schools of thought – mystical, magical, scientific and pseudo-scientific – strived to offer valid explanations for the wondrous effects of crystals. Through it all came some remarkable discoveries, such as the ability of crystals to generate a voltage in response to mechanical stress (piezoelectric effect) and the ability of crystals to generate an electrical potential in response to temperature change (pyroelectric effect). The other explanations for the beneficial effects of crystals involved heat, electricity, “focused energy,” the placebo effect, and magic.

Although concrete evidence remains elusive to modern science to prove the many other wondrous powers of crystal – such as the direct effects of crystals on the human condition and his environment – previous significant discoveries eventually produced many practical applications. Crystal quartz is now commonly used in watches, computers, cell phones, and radio transmissions, as well as in the development of laser technology in the fields of medicine and space explorations.

Notwithstanding, the scientific community, with the quantum physicists at the forefront, continues its research into the properties of crystals and their potential uses to enhance our life. Thus, for now, the belief that crystals work by magic becomes valid, if magic is defined as “that which is beyond our understanding at this point in time.”

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